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South Korea Real Estate Report Q4 2012 - New Market Research Report

New Business research report from Business Monitor International is now available from Fast Market Research

Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/04/2012 -- The South Korea Real Estate report examines the Commercial Office, Retail, Industrial and Construction segments in the context of a slowing economy vulnerable to international macroeconomic headwinds. With a focus on the principal cities of Daegu, Busan and Seoul, the report covers the city-state's rental market performance in terms of rates and yields and examines how best to maximise returns in the commercial real estate market, while minimising investment risk and exploring the impact of the country's selection as host of the 2018 Winter Olympics placing South Korean real estate sector back under the spotlight. The successful bid will see a renewed focus on the sector over the coming years in the lead up to the main event. More-likely-than-not, South Korea will also see a general increase in tourist arrivals as a result. In turn, this trend will prove to be a long-term boon to the construction and property industries. All of this, of course, will be taking place under the watchful eye of the investment community, in South Korea and overseas. In light of this, BMI has updated its quarterly South Korea Real Estate Report accordingly to meet this heightened interest in the sector, incorporating newly collected data covering the opening 6 months of 2012.

BMI's view remains that the real estate industry is simply staying the path until the macroeconomic headwinds have passed, safe in the knowledge of its own solid - if not as exciting - long-term potential. Busan and Daegu are cities with very different stories to Seoul; they are both recovering after years of declining economies and waning traditional industries.

Key Points

- The 2018 Winter Olympics and a general upward trend in tourist arrivals could provide a longterm boon to the construction and property industries.
- Weakness in the residential building industry will remain a drag on overall construction industry growth.
- We expect South Korea's real GDP growth to slow to a below-consensus 1.9% in 2012.
- Domestic demand is likely to be impaired by the slowdown in economic activity, as the jobless rate continues to tick up and high household debt weighs on consumption spending. While we see investment remaining weak, we do not expect to witness a crash like that of 2008/09. Businesses have already been pricing in the impending economic weakness, scaling back on investments and drawing down inventory stock levels.
- The domestic property market is likely to remain weak through much of 2012 amid the bleak economic landscape. A supply overhang and the country's perennial household debt situation are also likely to keep downward pressure on prices.

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